Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Strategy.

This National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Strategy, consisting of four Sections and three Annexes, sets out objectives to strengthen community stewardship of fishery resources and to support the development of commercial activities. It promotes the development of sustainable aquaculture for subsistence and commercial purposes to provide more fish for food and jobs. It establishes a just rights allocation system to encourage economically viable, efficient and sustainable fisheries, covering the following fisheries sectors: marine small-scale fisheries; marine Industrial fisheries; Inland fisheries and Recreational fisheries.
Section 2 establishes that the overall fisheries sector goal is: Sustainably managed and economically viable fisheries generating prosperity for present and future generations. In order to facilitate the attainment of the overarching vision by the year 2030, Government promotes: an improved institutional and legislative framework for fisheries management; adaptive research; community and stakeholder participation in capture and culture-based fisheries management and development; effective multi-level cooperation for fisheries management; enhanced monitoring and surveillance capabilities; and improved fish quality and value addition technologies for enhanced economic returns in fisheries. The principles of this Policy are: Equity and Gender; Long-term sustainability maintaining essential ecosystem functions and preserving a healthy habitat and actions taken to reduce the risk of serious harm to fish stocks, habitat and the environment; Transparency; Optimality, ensuring the conservation of the biomass for the best productivity, in the form of an appropriate balance between better nutrition, improved livelihoods, and revenue and foreign exchange; Inclusiveness through the involvement of key stakeholders in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors; Decentralization; Securing Small Scale Fisheries (SSF) access of disadvantaged people, ensuring poverty alleviation measures, social coherence, employment opportunities, in particular for women, income generation and food security. etc.
The Policy Objectives are the following: 1. Sustainable management of fisheries resources and associated ecosystems; 2. Development of aquaculture to meet local fish demand deficits and export; 3. Strengthening of institutional, human and financial capabilities to support a modern and vibrant fisheries sector; 4. Enhancement of Value addition, marketing and fish trade for improved foreign exchange and employment opportunities. Section 3 establishes that the Strategies to achieve the goal of Policy Objectives 1 are the following: Restoring biomass capacities to produce at maximum sustainable yield levels; Conserving of ecosystems; Encouraging community and stakeholder participation in fisheries management; Promoting International cooperation for management of shared stocks; Implementing effective Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) Mechanisms to prevent IUU fishing; Developing conflict management mechanisms for sustainable management of the fisheries resources. Strategies to achieve the Policy Objectives 2 are the following: Establishing the legal framework for development of responsible aquaculture; Strengthening the institutional framework for development of aquaculture; Setting up an enabling environment for development of Aqua- business for growth of the sub-sector; Improving capacity for aquaculture promotion through human resource development and training. Strategies to achieve the Policy Objectives 3 are the following: Revising the legislative framework to support fisheries management and development; Up-scaling of BNF capacity; Implementing a comprehensive adaptive research program for improvement of the industry; Implementing comprehensive capacity building and advisory programs for the fisheries sector; Promoting sustainable Fisheries Investments; Setting up sustainable funding mechanisms for fisheries development and management. Strategies to achieve the Policy Objectives 4 are the following: Improving economic returns through establishment of post-harvest infrastructure; Establishing national safety and quality assurance systems to enhance safety and quality of fish; Promoting value addition, fish marketing and trade opportunities. Section 4 deals with Monitoring and Evaluation. Annexes establish: Outcome indicators for monitoring of performance of policy implementation; Management frameworks for the fisheries management units of Liberia; Action plan for the policy framework.